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Question about the old timey Hobo Nick's.
GaCoinGuy
Posts: 2,723 ✭✭✭✭
Got to perusing some modern Hobos the other day and got to thinking. For the true Hobo Nick's, perhaps made as barter items, what did the artists use to remove the metal? I can't imagine that your basic pocketk ife or nail would be hard enough.
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I heard it was a sharpened nail. The only "old" one I have (need to find it) was given to my grandfather by a mint engraver sometime in the 1940's.
The Hobo Nickel Book has photos of some of the actual tools used.
From what I have been told. The early tools were made by the hobo. They would find any metal items along the way and form them into a tool. You can put a sharp edge or a point on just about any scrap of metal. They would have a little tool box, many times also handmade. Some would have quite a few tools in their box.
Interesting. I would have thought the nickel metal would have required something hardened to remove the metal. Will have to fi d a copy of the Hobo Nick book.
Their tools were often made by the hobo's from scraps they found or procured in some manner. Yes, nickel is hard, and the work was painstaking....which is why the old coins are valuable, along with the art. I would love to get an original, even one of the simpler ones. Cheers, RickO
The beautiful and painstaking work they did to produce those specimens just shows you the pure art and resilience of the people who made them.
True qualified Mint Engravers................FOR SURE!
Pete